Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

Symphony

11/9/2024 - A SHOUT AND SONIC WARHORSES AT NOVEMBER'S SRS CONCERT - Peter Lert
Santa Rosa Symphony / Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor. Jon Kimura Parker, piano
While the Santa Rosa Symphony's November 11 concert was billed as “Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev,” the opening piece on the program departed from the Russian theme and was distinctly American: Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’clock Shout.” The work was inspired by a practice that spread from New York to oth...

10/26/2024 - FRANKENSTEIN THRILLS IN UNIQUE SO CO PHIL CONCERT IN JACKSON THEATER - Peter Lert
Sonoma County Philharmonic / Norman Gamboa, conductor
The Sonoma County Philharmonic’s concerts of October 26 and 27 featured a somewhat unorthodox Halloween-adjacent theme of just two works: Rachmaninoff’s 1909 symphonic poem Isle of the Dead and a new score by contemporary Costa Rican composer Carlos Escalante Macaya for the 1931 Universal Pictures c...

10/19/2024 - SRS' NEW SEASON OPENS WITH BEETHOVEN AND COPLAND IN WEILL - Terry McNeill
Santa Rosa Symphony / Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor. David McCarroll, violin; Kai Ryssdal, narrator
Historically the Santa Rosa Symphony opens its first concerts of the season with a snare drum roll and the National Anthem, but at beginning of their Oct. 20 concerts there were solely stage announcements from Board Chair Keven Brown and President Andy Bradford. However there was plenty of patrioti...

9/22/2024 - MOZART THE SUBLIME IN UKIAH SYMPHONY'S CONCERT - Terry McNeill
Ukiah Symphony / Phillip Lenberg, conductor. Jassen Todorov, violin; Paul Yarbrough, viola
Sublime was the word in the air at the Ukiah Symphony’s season opening concert Sept 22 in the Mendocino College Theater. Sublime in the event’s title and in the unfolding of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364, that occupied the concert’s first half. Conductor Phillip Lenberg was joined by virtu...

9/21/2024 - POTENT TCHAIKOVSKY INTERPRETATION IN PHILHARMONIC'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY OPENER - Terry McNeill
Sonoma County Philharmonic / Norman Gamboa, conductor. Cynthia Lu, piano; Daniel Gianola-Norris, trumpet
On balance the first concert of the Sonoma County Philharmonic’s 25th season Sept. 21 had symmetry - a masterful Mozart piano concerto, a world premiere of a trumpet work, and Tchaikovsky’s seminal Fourth Symphony, Op. 36, composed in 1878. In recent years the Philharmonic’s orchestral strengths ha...

6/9/2024 - THE SRS ON THE ROAD TO 100 - Terry McNeill
Santa Rosa Symphony / Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Symphony seasons everywhere now have themes, often cutesy and having little relationship to the music, but the Santa Rosa Symphony June 9 launched something special, relevant and overarching – the Road to 100. Beginning the journey to their 100th season the orchestra performed two Beethoven Symphon...

5/13/2024 - TAO'S GERSHWIN AT SRS CONCERT IN WEILL HALL - Peter Lert
Santa Rosa Symphony / Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor. Conrad Tao, composer and piano
Perhaps one might ask what is “new” and what is “old,” music. Should we set an arbitrary division at, say, 100 years? Those of us who came of age in the 1960s might have considered works by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, or Wagner as “old” music, yet at that time much of it was less, some much less, than 100 ...

5/12/2024 - FATEFUL TRIUMPH IN COM'S TCHAIKOVSKY FIFTH - Terry McNeill
College of Marin / College of Marin Symphony Orchestra. Jim Stopher, conductor
A nonprofessional orchestra tackling a demanding symphony is an exciting experience for everyone involved. The Sonoma County Philharmonic recently climbed the mountain with Mahler’s Fifth, and the College of Marin Symphony Orchestra followed suit May 12 with the Tchaikovsky Fifth in the school’s Jam...

4/14/2024 - MONUMENTAL MAHLER 5TH IN SO CO PHIL'S SEASON ENDING CONCERT - Terry McNeill
Sonoma County Philharmonic / Norman Gamboa, conductor
Each season the Sonoma County Philharmonic does a stretch, meaning they take on one composition that makes inordinate demands on their nonprofessional orchestra. That happened in the two concert April set in the Jackson Theater when Conductor Norman Gamboa programed Mahler’s monumental Fifth Sympho...

2/28/2024 - YOUTH ORCHESTRA CHARMS BIG SPRING LAKE AUDIENCE - Terry McNeill
Spring Lake Village Classical Music Series / Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra. Bobby Rogers, conductor. Henry Miller, violin; Samuel Oryn, narrator
Usually the Spring Lake Village auditorium stage is pretty empty, with a small chamber music ensembles. In February it was a solo harpist, and April’s concert will be a solo pianist. All that changed Feb. 28 when the 53 musicians of Santa Rosa Symphony’s Youth Orchestra took the stage before a packe...

2/17/2024 - SOLO BRILLIANCE IN SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY CONCERT - Terry McNeill
Santa Rosa Symphony / Conductor Emeritus: Jeffrey Kahane, conductor, piano
In a program widely advertised as Kahane Returns, the former Santa Rosa Symphony conductor’s performance at the piano Feb. 17 was almost upstaged by a potent performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1 and a sensuous small orchestra piece in its local premiere. If memory serves Mr. Kahane made his...

1/28/2024 - HAYDEN'S SAXOPHONE CONCERTO AT SO CO PHIL CONCERT - Ron Teplitz
Sonoma County Philharmonic / Norman Gamboa, conductor. Andrew Harrison, saxophone
The Sonoma County Philharmonic produced a great program with their usual passion and dedication Jan. 27 at the Jackson Theater on Sonoma Country Day’s campus. Titled “American Shades,” it consisted of works by 20th and current century American composers. Michael Daugherty’s Route 66 was a driving...